Maltese MEP David Casa has led the fifth round of negotiations between EU institutions on a proposed directive that will improve leave entitlement for parents and carers.

He said the proposed legislation would set a minimum of 10 days leave for fathers at around the time of the birth of a child and the right to paid leave for each parent in the early years of their children’s lives.

It will also introduce the right for parents and carers to request flexible working arrangements and leave when a relative is ill.

Mr Casa said the directive seeks to encourage a better sharing of caring responsibilities between parents so as to address the gender pay and employment gaps.

“Caring responsibilities traditionally fall more on women in the family. This directive will allow and encourage for such responsibilities to be better shared and should play a role in enabling our workforce to reach its full potential, while fostering an improvement in the balance between work and family life. We have also been very attentive to the concerns of employers, and SMEs in particular. It is crucial that business is not stifled by the provisions of this directive. I am therefore working to ensure that the resulting directive is balanced and that the appropriate safeguards are in place”.

Mr Casa is the European Peoples' Party Group Coordinator on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the European Parliament’s lead rapporteur on the Work-Life Balance Directive.

He said he was cautiously optimistic that negotiations could be concluded in the coming weeks.